Portable electronic devices (e.g., cellular telephones) may be provided with near field communication (“NFC”) components for enabling contactless proximity-based communications with another entity. Often times, these communications are associated with currency transactions or other secure data transactions that users rely on every day, such as credit card payments and public transportation ticketing. However, due to the limited amount of power available to battery operated devices, the NFC capabilities of such devices are often compromised or rendered unusable when their available power drops below certain thresholds.